High ICE revs / engine strained!

[brownville]

Newbie to post but been reading for a long time. Had gx4h for approx 3 weeks and really am loving it. However, have a bit of an issue (i think). Anyone experienced? When the battery range is low anything less than 5 miles then ICE seems to go a bit mad! Revs really high even at low speeds, like I have slipped the clutch! Screams away from start off and then at random points. Seems to settle down saat higher speeds but anything up to 40 to 50 seems to struggle. Having to remember to save last 5 miles and seems to solve. It's doing my head in now as not getting full range and it's a pain if I forget to hit save! Any thoughts out there? Thanks

 

[jaapv]

When you ask full power the ICE will come in. There is nothing strained, the car is designed that way. It is best compared to kick down on an automatic car. It has to do with driving style. If you floor the accelerator all the time this is exactly what the car will do.
At the speeds you mention it is in series hybrid mode and the ICE will run at maximum efficiency revs to supplement the battery when asked for full power. As soon as you come to higher speeds, say past 70 the car will be in parallel power mode and the engine revs will be controlled by the speed of the car.
You will get best economy if you keep the car at medium power and just below the point that the ICE shifts to the high rev stage, reserving full power for the times that traffic conditions demand it.
Much more comfortable for you and your passengers too.

 

[maby]

Newbie to post but been reading for a long time. Had gx4h for approx 3 weeks and really am loving it. However, have a bit of an issue (i think). Anyone experienced? When the battery range is low anything less than 5 miles then ICE seems to go a bit mad! Revs really high even at low speeds, like I have slipped the clutch! Screams away from start off and then at random points. Seems to settle down saat higher speeds but anything up to 40 to 50 seems to struggle. Having to remember to save last 5 miles and seems to solve. It's doing my head in now as not getting full range and it's a pain if I forget to hit save! Any thoughts out there? Thanks

You are not running with the "Charge" button pressed, are you? That is the only time that I have ever noticed any significant ICE noise - and even then it is not particularly loud. I regularly do motorway runs of around 70 miles with a completely flat battery - admittedly I am not a fast driver, but at speeds up to 70mph, the engine is very difficult to hear.

 

[Stu]

I was very surprised by the high revs of the ICE when the charge is gone, especially when pulling away from a standstill. I don't think it's straining but it is revving much more than a standard car and it does sound like a slipped clutch. I think it's probably that we're not used to an engine revving so high just to pull away, whereas it's in the PHEV it's normal. At high speeds mine is also fine.

I don't think you've anything to worry about, to be honest, sounds exactly the same as mine and just seems to be a characteristic of the way the drive system works.

Cheers

 

[maby]

You must be accelerating away much harder than I do - even with a flat battery, my Outlander normally takes off from stationary on EV. It never really runs the battery flat and at speeds below about 40mph, it still runs EV with the ICE driving the generator to replace the charge used.

My weekend driving pattern consists of setting out from the house on a Friday afternoon on a 70 mile journey round the M25. At the far end, we have no ability to charge, so when we return on the M25 on Sunday or Monday evening, it is always with a flat battery. I don't think I've ever heard the engine running except when I pressed "Charge" in order to be able to show a friend the car running in pure EV. It pulls away on battery, kicking in the ICE shortly afterwards to top the battery back up. I wonder if you might be suffering from a battery failure similar to that which has hit gwatpe? I think he was reporting similar symptoms before it went back to the dealer.

 

[Lyra252]

Hi

I have had the same but only when I was towing a very heavy dive boat.

The engine noise was noticible for most of the journey.

I do a lot of motorway trips and even on charge or save you can't hear the engine.

Cheers

Chris

 

[brownville]

Thanks for all the responses. No matter how light footed I am I can't stop it happening I have litteraly tried crawling off from stand still. I don't have charge on but it sounds like I have. One thing the PHEV has done is massively changed the way I drive.... Never boot it and rarely over 70! Maybe it's a fault?

 

[brownville]

Thanks for all the responses. No matter how light footed I am I can't stop it happening I have litteraly tried crawling off from stand still. I don't have charge on but it sounds like I have. One thing the PHEV has done is massively changed the way I drive.... Never boot it and rarely over 70! Maybe it's a fault?

 

[maddogsetc]

I do a lot of motorway trips and even on charge or save you can't hear the engine.

You won't hear much of the engine under these circumstances because it will be running in parallel mode (ie. engine revs are directly related to road speed).

The OP is hearing the engine revving because the car is in series mode (engine revs completely UNrelated to road speed). ICE will always work harder in exactly the circumstances described because in series mode it is the load/drain on the battery that determines the revs. So accelerating, pulling away and driving at just below the minimum speed for parallel mode (approx. 45mph) will always mean higher revs when the battery is depleted.

 

[maby]

I do a lot of motorway trips and even on charge or save you can't hear the engine.

You won't hear much of the engine under these circumstances because it will be running in parallel mode (ie. engine revs are directly related to road speed).

The OP is hearing the engine revving because the car is in series mode (engine revs completely UNrelated to road speed). ICE will always work harder in exactly the circumstances described because in series mode it is the load/drain on the battery that determines the revs. So accelerating, pulling away and driving at just below the minimum speed for parallel mode (approx. 45mph) will always mean higher revs when the battery is depleted.

I really don't agree with you on this - when my battery is notionally flat (we know that means around 20% charge), pulling away and acceleration draws from the battery initially. The petrol engine will kick in then to replace the charge consumed, but this is a pretty leisurely affair unless you really are flooring it in which case there may not be sufficient spare capacity in the battery to defer the top-up. Most of my driving is on a flat battery and in serial hybrid mode, or just tipped over to parallel. I very rarely can hear the engine - to the extent that I usually have the power flow display up to tell me if it is running...

 

[brownville]

I was very surprised by the high revs of the ICE when the charge is gone, especially when pulling away from a standstill. I don't think it's straining but it is revving much more than a standard car and it does sound like a slipped clutch. I think it's probably that we're not used to an engine revving so high just to pull away, whereas it's in the PHEV it's normal. At high speeds mine is also fine.

I don't think you've anything to worry about, to be honest, sounds exactly the same as mine and just seems to be a characteristic of the way the drive system works.

Cheers

Thanks Stu. Not only me which is reassuring. Although it doesnt seem like everyone notices it.

 

[brownville]

You must be accelerating away much harder than I do - even with a flat battery, my Outlander normally takes off from stationary on EV. It never really runs the battery flat and at speeds below about 40mph, it still runs EV with the ICE driving the generator to replace the charge used.

My weekend driving pattern consists of setting out from the house on a Friday afternoon on a 70 mile journey round the M25. At the far end, we have no ability to charge, so when we return on the M25 on Sunday or Monday evening, it is always with a flat battery. I don't think I've ever heard the engine running except when I pressed "Charge" in order to be able to show a friend the car running in pure EV. It pulls away on battery, kicking in the ICE shortly afterwards to top the battery back up. I wonder if you might be suffering from a battery failure similar to that which has hit gwatpe? I think he was reporting similar symptoms before it went back to the dealer.

Thanks Maby. Had a look for gwatpe thread but can't see it. I'll try a pm. Thanks

 

[maby]

You must be accelerating away much harder than I do - even with a flat battery, my Outlander normally takes off from stationary on EV. It never really runs the battery flat and at speeds below about 40mph, it still runs EV with the ICE driving the generator to replace the charge used.

My weekend driving pattern consists of setting out from the house on a Friday afternoon on a 70 mile journey round the M25. At the far end, we have no ability to charge, so when we return on the M25 on Sunday or Monday evening, it is always with a flat battery. I don't think I've ever heard the engine running except when I pressed "Charge" in order to be able to show a friend the car running in pure EV. It pulls away on battery, kicking in the ICE shortly afterwards to top the battery back up. I wonder if you might be suffering from a battery failure similar to that which has hit gwatpe? I think he was reporting similar symptoms before it went back to the dealer.

Thanks Maby. Had a look for gwatpe thread but can't see it. I'll try a pm. Thanks

Some comment here : http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=709&p=7036#p7036 - he has written extensively on his battery problems

 

[Lyra252]

It sounds like there maybe an issue here. One thing the PHEV is renouned for is being almost silent even with the ICE running.

Under hard accelleration, or towing you will hear the ICE, but other than that you have to look at the display to see if it's opererating.

Even with a depleted (20% left) battery, it normally pulls away on elec only. again silent.

Maybe ask your dealer for a short run in their current demonstrator to compare??

Regards

Chris

 

[Hypermiler]

And OP says this happens at around 5 mile range rather than when battery is "completely" depleted. My ICE usually kicks in at either 1 mile or 0 mile remaining (caveat re remaining range calculation etc). And the ICE doesn't usually sound strained, only in certain circumstances.

Doesn't sound right to me if he is driving gently.
H

 

[tarq]

Also could be the temperature outside.

I went out last Wed eve it was 5-7 degrees C. on a short 5 mile journey each way.

The ICE engine ran the whole way there & back, even though the battery was fully charged.

I tried every thing I could think of to get it to stop, no heat, seats, music, Miss Daisy style driving, but it still kept running, quite loudly as well!

It hasn't done it since, so i put it down to just the 1st. time being that cold, doesn't bode well for winter driving generally.

I see on another board, that on a Vauxhall Ampera & Chevvie Volt, you can alter the degrees at which the engine starts, but haven't seen it available for the PHEV.

 

[maddogsetc]

I have certainly experienced the ICE revving quite hard when driving in series mode with a depleted battery, especially on the little 'up hill and down dale' country lanes that we have here. It doesn't happen often, but then I don't drive with a fully depleted battery very often.

And far from being silent, I can hear the ICE quite clearly, in fact when it starts up on a cold morning it actually seems quite noisy to me. But maybe I've just gotten used to the silent pull away over the last 5 months or so!

 

[maby]

I have certainly experienced the ICE revving quite hard when driving in series mode with a depleted battery, especially on the little 'up hill and down dale' country lanes that we have here. It doesn't happen often, but then I don't drive with a fully depleted battery very often.

And far from being silent, I can hear the ICE quite clearly, in fact when it starts up on a cold morning it actually seems quite noisy to me. But maybe I've just gotten used to the silent pull away over the last 5 months or so!

In order to avoid it seizing up through disuse, I took the old 4.5 litre diesel Landcruiser yesterday - take it from me, the Outlander is whisper quiet!

 

[CJ1045]

I suspect the ICE is revving when it is acting as a generator and running at optimum speed to charge the batteries

CJ

 

[maby]

I suspect the ICE is revving when it is acting as a generator and running at optimum speed to charge the batteries

CJ

I'm sure it is, but the question is how noisy it should be... I frequently drive with a flat battery like the OP and usually need to switch the MMCS to the energy flow display to know if the engine is running. My hearing is quite good and I certainly would not consider it to be noisy. I certainly do not go to any lengths to keep a few percent charge in the battery in order to avoid the engine over-reving.